COTTON 
61 
DEMORALIZING CHANGES IN PRICES 
If it had no other object the organization of the 
cotton farmers would find ample justification in 
the opportunity it affords for co-operation in keep- 
ing the cotton acreage limited to the apparent de- 
mands of commerce. 
Very large and very small crops are alike demor- 
alizing to every cotton interest. These lead to 
fluctuations in value which make the manufacturer's 
hair turn gray as he tries to fix a fair price for his 
product, and which make the cotton farmer the prey 
of speculators and the sport of chance. 
Take the difference between seventeen-cent 
prices in May, 1904, and seven-cent prices in Janu- 
ary, 1905, eight months later, meaning on a 10,- 
000,000 bale crop the difference between $350,- 
000,000 and $850,000,000. 
The remedy for all this lies in a more systematic 
plan of marketing — the entire cotton crop must not 
be rushed pell-mell upon the market in the ninety 
days of the picking and ginning season. Almost 
invariably prices the following spring are very 
much better than during the fall; and this is natural, 
— in fact, inevitable. 
BUYERS MAKE FALL PURCHASES ONLY WITH ODDS IN 
THEIR FAVOR 
If he must buy during the picking season before 
the size of the crop becomes known, the spinner 
buys on the assumption that the larger estimates of 
yield are correct — and he must then allow himself 
a full margin of safety, else it were better to keep 
his money employed in something else and buy later 
with less risk and with less outlay. 
